THE TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME OCTOBER 1, 2017

O THE TWENTY-SIXTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME OCTOBER 1, 2017 Thank You! It was wonderful to see all the people on our festival weekend. I want to thank everyone who helped make the event such a success. Elena, the chair of the festival did a wonderful job of organizing the event. I want to thank all who chaired a booth for the weekend, the booths were decorated with such beauty it made the event special for our children, a time of wonder and fun. I want to thank all of our performers, musicians, and technical people who made our stage events truly special. I want to thank all the volunteers for their time and friendliness during our festival weekend. This event is more than a fundraiser it is an opportunity to create a atmosphere of welcome to the whole Castro Valley community. Evangelization begins with a welcome! Blessing of the Animals There will be a blessing of the Animals in honor of the Feast of St. Francis this Sunday October 1 in the gathering space at 1PM. Please make sure your pet is restrained so we may have a peaceful blessing. October, the Month of Mary, the Month of the Rosary On October 7 we celebrate Our Lady of the Rosary The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary remembers the protection of Christianity through the intercession of Our Lady through the praying at the rosary from the invasion of the Turkish Empire in 1571. In October 1571, the super power of the time, the Turkish Empire had sent the largest navy in the world at that time to destroy Rome and Christianity and expand the Moslem empire. Pope Pius V called people pray the Rosary to protect the Christian kingdoms from the invasion with the coalition of the Holy League naval group of nations which was a much smaller and unorganized. During the battle of Lapanto a copy of the image of our Lady of Guadalupe brought from Mexico was sen with the Spanish fleet in the possession of the commander Andrea Doria to ask the help of Our Lady to defend the Christians from the invasion. The Spanish fleet took heavy casualties however the wind changed and the Ottoman Navy was soundly defeated on October 7, 1571 and would never attack again by ship. The Spanish fleet attributed them being saved to Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Rosary is a powerful prayer and at the apparitions at Lourdes and Fatima, Our Lady asked us to pray the Rosary daily. Could we honor her request especially during the month of October in prayer daily rosary seeking peace in our world. Within a month of the Miracle of the Sun on October 13, 1917 World War I one came to an end. Three children responding to the request to pray the rosary for peace changed our world. While we are on Pilgrimage at these Shrines of Mary we will pray for you. "The Rosary is Christocentric setting forth the entire life of Jesus Christ, the passion, death, resurrection and glory. Of course, the Rosary honors and contemplates Mary too, and rightly so, for the same reason that the Liturgical Year does likewise: "Because of the mission she received from God, her life is most closely linked with the mysteries of Jesus Christ, and there is no one who has followed in the footsteps of the Incarnate Word more closely and with more merit than she"142 (Mediator Dei). Meditation on this cycle of Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous Mysteries makes the Rosary not only "a breviary or summary of the Gospel and of Christian life,"(ingravescentibus malis) but also a compendium of the Liturgical Year. Therewith the Rosary stands revealed as a dynamic teacher and nurturer of Christian faith, morality, and spiritual perfection, fostering in various ways faith, hope, charity, and the other virtues, and mediating special graces, all to the end that we may become more and more like unto Christ." Mariology, Juniper B. Carol, O.F.M. Peace, Fr. Tom Gospel for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 8th) Matthew 21:33-43 Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:"hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.' They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?" They answered him, "He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times." Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit." 1

OUR LADY OF GRACE FESTIVAL 2017 ANOTHER TERRIFIC FESTIVAL EFFORT! Once again a big thank you to Elena Millard-Zavala and her Team for their extraordinary effort and commitment to all things Festival these past few months!! We also need to send out a big word of thanks and appreciation to the Operations Crew headed up by Dave Swanson for not only the set-up but the dirty and hard work of taking down the Festival. Many of the volunteers here taking down and cleaning up were here the entire weekend as well. Elena did another amazing job as Chairperson for the 2nd year in a row and hopefully not her last. We are grateful to all those she solicited to help her achieve her vision of Once Upon a Time... This included our second Annual Chili Cook-Off, Pasta Dinner hosted by the Italian Catholic Federation and the Pancake Breakfast hosted by our own Knights of Columbus. It is difficult to not continue to mention by name all those who contribute so overwhelmingly to the many areas the entertainment was great, the accounting booth spends the entire weekend behind the scenes counting and supporting the booths, security keeps us all safe know that all those who worked hard to make our Festival a wonderful event your efforts were much appreciated by the entire community of Our Lady of Grace. There are a number of you who gave untiringly of your time and effort and we are well aware of who you are. And so to all of you who did so much, to those who came and participated in the weekend activities, to those who generously spent money, to the entertainers, to the behind-the-scenes folk and to our sponsors and donors and to our gracious God we give thanks. You are truly magnificent in your commitment to our parish and we are so very grateful to all of you! 2017 RAFFLE PRIZE WINNERS The Festival Raffle is another great tradition and we are happy to announce the winners: Our Grand Prize Winner is Colleen Lindberg! 2nd Prize went to Cristina Warner and 3rd Prize went to Trish Ferrari. Our Gift Card Winners are: Roberta Santiago, Connie Linney and Gene Alga. Congratulations to you all! 2 CATHOLIC VOICE ANNUAL APPEAL This month is our annual appeal for The Catholic Voice. Your donation helps our Parish offset its payment for this important communication ministry. The Voice is the only regular source of Catholic news and information delivered to all parishioners in the Diocese. Please be generous in your support of our Parish! Checks should be made payable to Our Lady of Grace. Envelopes are in the pews. HIGH SCHOOL TEENS: GOT QUESTIONS? ALPHA BEGINS TODAY! Join us tonight from 6-8pm in Stack Center to share a Meal, watch an exciting Video & discuss in small groups the video and our Faith in God as we have Fun & make new Friends! Our hope for those teens who attend ALPHA is to have a deep experience with God as we explore our faith and answer questions in a comfortable setting. FEAST OF ST. FRANCIS Come begin the celebration of the feast of St. Francis on Tuesday, October 3rd at 7 PM in the church, when the Friars of St. Joseph of Cupertino friary join the parishioners of our Lady of Grace, and our school students, to celebrate the TRANSITUS of St. Francis. The transit is a remembrance of the death of St. Francis, that is; his passing into eternal life. It will be a candlelight prayer service, including readings of St. Francis' life, followed by light refreshments. CASTRO VALLEY HOMELESS OUTREACH God has given OLG a special opportunity! For the last several months we have provided food and supplies to the homeless in Castro Valley. We would like to expand this ministry, but we need your help. Their needs are simple - food, canned or prepared - pretty much anything that is cooked that can be heated on a camp stove. Do not worry about the quantity as the food is shared. Additional items include propane for camp stoves, AAA batteries, black garbage bags (30 gallon), plastic flatware, tarps, and camping equipment of all kinds, especially with cold weather on the way. We will arrange to pick-up your donation and deliver it to those in need. If you want to help, please e-mail Ken White at k2rm@comcast.net or Sean Nalty at sean.nalty@ogletree.com or call Sean at (415) 369-3552.

OUR LADY OF GRACE FESTIVAL 2017 WORD OF THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS A special word of thanks to all those many generous Sponsors who contributed financially to our Festival this year. This money enable us to do the many things that are a necessary part (and expense) of the Festival and provides operating capital to fund things prior to the weekend. Many of these sponsors have been longtime and faithful contributors to Our Lady of Grace and we are most grateful to them. In turn we especially encourage your consideration and support of our business sponsors who are so generous in supporting us! Landmark Villa Teresa Nazareth Century 21 Ability David D. Fosdahl, DDS Don Nethercott Liberty Theatrical Décor Bishop O Dowd High School In Memory of Marvin Picha James & Phyllis Barthman Dave Swanson & Roberta Santiago Direct Sales Carpet One Palace Garage, Inc. Italian Catholic Federation B.A. Morrison Growing Years Pre-School Mary Lou Vincent Bancroft Uniforms Walsh Property Management Poniatowski Leding Parikh Law Corporation Creative Dimensions in Dentistry/Griggs Orthodontics Redwood Convalescent Hospital Lowe & Huizar Family Beck Roofing Company Inc. Kathleen Cande IN Memory of Dennis Cande Pete s ACE Hardware Moreau Catholic High School Robert Darnell DDS Jay & Denise Thosen; Brad LaVerne Plumbing Mel s Shoe Clinic ICF POLENTA DINNER It's that time of the year again to join the ICF for their Polenta dinner on October 12th. Doors open at 6:00pm and dinner is served at 6:30pm. Since this is most popular dinner, reservations are necessary. Please call Stella Taddei at 510-581-5863 or Juanita Madrid at 510-582-7242 for reservations. Deadline is October 8th. Mangia! Mangia! SUNDAY COLLECTION Stewardship of treasure involves trust in God. You have to really believe in God s Providence and trust that if you give ten percent of your income to the Church and charity, for example, God will help you live on the rest. Offerings of September 24th: Sunday Plate: $ 8,549.00 Last Year this week $ 6,928.00 Weekly Budgeted Goal: $ 8,920.00 Year-to-date this year: $323,453.00 Year-to-date last year: $316,080.00 May God bless your continuing generosity. Glen Alcorn Kathleen Andrews Susanna Ax James Barthman Leonardo Cabardo Claudia Dobbs Lynn Franks Byron Griffith Dieter Hahn Your Prayers Are Requested Please lift up in your prayer those many among us who are ill and those who have asked for our prayerful remembrance: Don Jordan Elaine Jordan Alice McLaughlin Rosy Pereira Stephanie Rosevear David Rountree Florence Sharp Mercedes Tellez Iwan Tunggal Please remember in your prayers the recently deceased in our parish families and all who mourn the loss of a loved one. VICTIMS OF HURRICANE HARVEY, IRMA, & MARIA EARTHQUAKES IN MEXICO ALPHA MEETING & RCIA INQUIRY ALPHA & the RCIA Inquiry Group has begun! We offer a warm, accepting setting in small group discussions to find ways to deepen our faith and to share the possibilities with those seeking membership into the Catholic Church. We meet on Tuesdays at 6:00pm in Stack Center, Rooms 8 & 9. Our next meeting will be October 6th. For more information, please contact Marie at comeandseealpha@gmail.com. 3

ROSARY MEDITATIONS FROM ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE Militia Immaculata Celebrating 100 years! 100 years ago St. Maximilian Kolbe along with 6 other Franciscans began a prayer movement of Consecration to the Blessed Mother to evangelize the world and lead people through Mary and her mission of bearing Christ to the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In honor of this anniversary and the witness of the life and heroic death of St. Maximilian Kolbe we will use his reflections to help us enter into the mysteries of the Rosary. Our Reflection this week is the Luminous Mystery of The Transfiguration: The Luminous Mysteries The Transfiguration -- Luke 9:28-36 Jesus, by coming into the world, showed humanity the way to true holiness by example and word. The essence of holiness consists in loving God to the point of heroism. Its hallmark is the fulfillment of God s will, especially as expressed in the commandments of God and of the Church in the duties of one s state of life. Its means are: continuous self-vigilance and prayer, whereby the soul obtains God s supernatural graces, indispensable to spiritual progress. The most important stages of prayer are vocal prayer, meditation and contemplation. In contemplation, God may at times draw the soul very close to Himself, in which case the soul is dazzled by unearthly light and kindled with love. (KW1001) OUR LADY OF FATIMA PILGRIMAGE MASS WITH BISHOP BARBER Join us for the final Our Lady of Fatima Centennial Pilgrimage Mass in the Diocese of Oakland with Bishop Michael C. Barber, SJ at St. Joseph the Worker at 1640 Addison St., Berkeley. October 13th at 7:00 pm. For more information, call the Parish Office at 510-843-2244. WINGS WOMEN IN GOD S SPIRIT We invite all women to join us for WINGS (Women in God s Spirit). WINGS is a faith enhancement group that encourages spiritual growth through prayer, scripture study, Catechizes, life sharing and community. We will meet at Transfiguration Church Marian Room (Hall) Next Meeting: October 5, 2017 9:15am to 11:15 am. Speaker: Sr. Joann Heinritz Topic: Spiritual Growth Sunday, October 1st: The Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Coffee & Donuts After 9:30am Mass--Stack Center Liturgy of the Word `9:30am--Augustine Center First Communion Class 10:50am--Stack Center Blessing of the Animals 1:00pm--Garden Youth Ministry 6:00pm--Stack Center Tuesday, October 3rd: Tuesday Morning Bible Study 9:30am--Stack Center, Room 7 Alpha/RCIA 6:00pm--Stack Center, Rooms 8 & 9 Men s Bible Study 7:00pm--Stack Center, Room 7 Baptismal Class 7:00pm--Stack Center, OLG Room Wednesday, October 4th Men of Faith 7:00pm--Parish Office, McGarvey Room Thursday, October 5th: Adoration 7:00pm--Church AA Serenity Group 7:30pm--Augustine Center, Room A2 Friday, October 6th: First Friday Adoration 7:00pm--Church Saturday, October 7th: Adoration 8:45am--Church Sunday, October 8th: The Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Coffee & Donuts After 9:30am Mass--Stack Center Liturgy of the Word 9:30am--Augustine Center New Parishioner Registration 10:00am--Stack Center Youth Ministry 6:00pm--Stack Center 4

All Masses are celebrated in the Church. SUNDAY, October 1st The Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time 11:30am Julie & Steven Montaya & Family 1:15pm Guadalupe Beruben MONDAY, October 2nd The Holy Guardian Angels 8:15am Louis Rodrigues (D) TUESDAY, October 3rd 8:15am Carlo P. Barroso (L) WEDNESDAY, October 4th OUR HOLY FATHER FRANCIS OF ASSISI, FOUNDER OF THE THREE ORDERS 8:15am Conrado Antonio (D) THURSDAY, October 5th Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, Priest 8:15am Rudy & Augie Enriquez (D) FRIDAY, October 6th St. Bruno, Priest Blessed Marie Rose Durocher, Virgin 8:15am Ruth Rousey (D) SATURDAY, October 7th Our Lady of the Rosary 8:15am Dorothy & Manuel Callier (D) 5:00pm Thelma Ferreira (D) SUNDAY, October 8th The Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time 7:30am Visitacion Perdido (D) 1:15pm Shirley Stone (D) EXECUTION ALERTS The following executions are scheduled to take place in October: October 5th Jeffrey Borden AL October 5th Michael Lambrix FL We ask your prayers for these persons, for the victims of their crimes, and for their families. READINGS FOR THE WEEK: October 2nd through October 8th Monday: Zechariah 8:1-8; Matthew 18:1-5, 10 Tuesday: Zechariah 8:20-23; Luke 9:51-56 Wednesday: Nehemiah 2:1-8; Luke 9:57-62 Thursday: Nehemiah 8:1-4a, 5-6,7b-12; Luke 10:1-12 Friday: Baruch 1:15-22; Luke 10:13-16 Saturday: Baruch 4:5-12, 27-29; Luke 10:17-24; Sunday: Isaiah 5:1-7; Philippians 4:6-9; Matthew 21:33-43 Hurricane Relief Response The Catholic bishops of the USA are organizing a special collection in all the churches to be taken up for relief for Hurricane Irma. We will have a second collection the weekend of October 1st. The funds collected will be distributed through Catholic Charities USA to help those in affected areas. You may also send directly to the Chancery. Make checks payable to the Roman Catholic Bishop of Oakland, and in the memo field, write "for Hurricane Irma relief." If sending directly to the diocese, mail to: Diocese of Oakland Accounting Department 2121 Harrison St., Oakland CA 94612 LITURGY OF THE WORD VOLUNTEERS The Evangelization Office is seeking volunteers to assist in teaching the Liturgy of the Word for children 3-11 years old on Sundays during the 9:30 a.m. Masses. Please contact the Evangelization Office at 510-582-9266. Your help is deeply appreciated! THANK THEM WITH YOUR SUPPORT Please support our advertisers who make our weekly bulletin possible and so generously support our Parish. We are grateful to them! This week we extend our gratitude to: BRAD LA VERNE PLUMBING 5